Somebody better give James Cameron a Xanax. Not only is he rolling out “Avatar,” his first feature in 12 years, on Dec. 18, the movie has been saddled with greater expectations than any film since “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.” Some pundits predict that “Avatar” will do nothing less than save the movie biz.
Cameron conceived the idea more than a decade ago, but put off shooting it until the right technology was available. The reported $240 million production, part live-action and part motion-capture animation, stars Sam Worthington as a Marine who can have his consciousness transferred into a 10-foot-tall blue creature on another planet.
Cameron used new technology designed to give the picture a greater depth of field. It basically involves two cameras strapped together, filming simultaneously, to mimic the way our eyes work. But before “Avatar” can go on to save an entire industry, someone’s got to answer three questions.
1 Can a hard-core sci-fi movie draw mainstream audiences?
“Titanic” had major crossover appeal. It was a romance, a historical adventure, a disaster movie and classic Oscar-bait all rolled into one. It resonated with old and young alike — hence its $1.8 billion worldwide take. From the preview footage, “Avatar” appears to be closer in spirit to “Starship Troopers” and “The Dark Crystal.” For “Avatar” to break box office records, it needs to rope in teens and their parents. Cameron and the studio are no doubt hoping it will prove to be one of those genre movies that people who aren’t necessarily fans of the genre will see, like “The Lord of the Rings.”
2 Will people pay to see a movie because it’s 3-D?
Some of the year’s biggest earners, including “Monsters vs. Aliens” and “Up,” have been presented in 3-D, but they might have done just as well without it. Roger Ebert has called 3-D an “annoyance” and a “marketing gimmick,” but Hollywood and theater owners obviously love it. They can charge higher ticket prices for those films, and movies shown in 3-D are impossible to pirate, because you can’t capture 3-D images with a smuggled camcorder.
3 Is Cameron’s name still a draw?
It’s been more than 10 years since “Titanic,” and aside from a cameo on “Entourage,” the director has been mostly MIA. Does he still command a following, especially among moviegoers who weren’t even born when “Aliens” came out? To teens, Cameron’s name likely means nothing and “Avatar” will live or die by what they see in the trailers and read online.